Man who police opened fire upon to fight charges

A MAN who allegedly led police on a series of high-speed pursuits and was shot at by an officer in a separate incident, will contest all matters.

Kyle Peter Green, 25, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court via videolink yesterday, where he faces 25 charges including affray, trafficking a drug of dependence, robbery and three counts of failing to stop a vehicle on police request.

Green’s lawyer Mike Wardell said the defence had “absolutely” attempted to resolve the matters, but that agreement with the prosecution could not be reached.

“The main purpose of today is to set dates for contest,” he said.

“It seems they snugly fit into three separate and distinct matters.”

Mr Wardell said the matters could be sectioned off into the alleged pursuits, a drug trafficking matter, and an alleged affray in Nerrina.

The pursuit contest is scheduled to run for two days, while the others will run for one day each.

Mr Wardell also requested that magistrate Peter Couzens not preside over any of the hearings.

“With the greatest respect your honour, with the way the bail application unfolded and the intensity of cross examination ... a fresh magistrate may be appropriate,” he said.

In the bail application on October 8, police alleged that Green had been involved in a series of incidents in August and September.

It was alleged in one of those incidents that upon being approached by police, Green began to put his hands up as a sign of surrender but then raised a firearm towards a police officer.

The officer then discharged his firearm towards Green, who got into a car and quickly reversed away.

Green’s alleged offending sparked a manhunt before he handed himself into police on September 6, flanked by his two lawyers.

Police have previously alleged that Green sped away from officers after they approached him in a car following reports he had been involved in domestic violence.

The car was later found crashed into a power pole with a traffickable quantity of methylamphetamine inside, along with a set of scales, an ice smoking pipe and more than $3000 cash.